Glendale Ready To Sell Bonds, Paving Way For Hulsizer To Buy Coyotes

Glendale plans to put as much as $116M in bonds up for sale next Tuesday

The city of Glendale's financing for the Coyotes deal is "expected to be completed next week, paving the way" for Peak6 Investments CEO Matthew Hulsizer to "take over the team," according to Rebekah Sanders of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. A Moody's Investors Service report issued Thursday revealed that Glendale "plans to put as much as $116 million in bonds up for sale Tuesday." The bond sale "could be the last significant hurdle to ending the Coyotes ownership drama that has dogged Glendale nearly three years." The city is selling the bonds to "secure a deal" with Hulsizer, who plans to purchase the Coyotes from the NHL for nearly $170M. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly on Thursday called the move to sell bonds a "positive step" and added the league is hopeful a sale "can be completed in the near future" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/11). The GLOBE & MAIL's David Shoalts reported Moody's gave the $110.9M bond offering a "rating of A1," its fifth-highest credit rating. The A1 rating is an "important step in the sale of the Coyotes but it does not mean the deal is finished." Once the bonds go on sale, at an expected interest rate of 6%, there is "no guarantee financial institutions will buy them because the public municipal bond markets are flat." Shoalts noted "this could mean the city would have to try and sell them on the private market at a higher interest rate, which means adding to its already considerable overall debt" (GLOBESPORTS.com, 2/10).